The authors take a numbers-based look at what actually creates the advantage at home across most of the major sports worldwide at the professional and, sometimes, the collegiate level. The findings are interesting not only because of the apparent limited scope of home field/court advantage, but also because of the astounding level of consistency that teams in a particular sport enjoy the benefits of home.

First of all, the authors’ study found what everyone already knows: The home team has an advantage. But how much of an advantage the home team has varies by the sport itself more than any other factor. For example, the authors’ numbers indicate that home field advantage is the most significant in soccer. The win percentage of home teams in three of the most popular leagues in Europe, including the English Premier League, is about 65 percent. And in 40 other leagues in 24 other countries, it’s about 63 percent. Amazing. And NFL teams (57.6 percent) win at about the same rate at home as Arena Football League teams (56 percent) and college football teams (57 percent) — at least when only conference games are considered in college to account for the propensity by power teams to schedule weaklings in the non-conference schedule. Keep Reading…

Stan Van Gundy after the game about the Skirvin: “What haunts me are guys like Kevin Durant,” Van Gundy said. “So, I would say this building is haunted because of guys like him, as are most of the buildings in the NBA. I haven’t run into a haunted hotel, just haunted arenas.”

Eddy Rivera of Magic Basketball: “Ironically enough, Orlando could have gotten away with Durant and Westbrook going nova on offense if they contained the role players. No offense to Nenad Krstic, but he shouldn’t be putting up 16 points and 11 rebounds. As Reggie Miller said on the TNT broadcast, that’s found money. It’s true. Guys like Jeff Green, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka are going to contribute but the key is to limit their impact and unfortunately for the Magic, they were unable to do so. That’s one of the reasons that Orlando lost in an otherwise winnable scenario.” Keep Reading…

Go ahead and set this one to “Do Not Erase” on your DVR. It was one of Those Games.

Not only was the game itself terrific, but players played terrific. Kevin Durant went for 36 on 13-17 shooting (!), Russell Westbrook picked up a triple-double (32-13-10 and only one turnover) (!) and as a team, the Thunder shot 56.4 percent from the field.

And they held on to beat the Magic, one of the best teams in the league. The Thunder’s been lacking a few big statement wins and they got one tonight on national TV with their best players playing some of their best games. When I go to sleep tonight I’m putting this game on in the background.

It had the big plays — KD’s runner to ice it, a classic Jeff Green 3 for his defenders to put in their pocket to defend him with in four days when people are bashing him, Serge Ibaka’s back-to-back blocks — but it also had some seriously good, mature basketball from the Thunder. They held onto the lead pretty much the entire second half, working it up to 12 at one point, but Orlando is just to good to really blow out. But OKC never slumped. It never went through a lull. There was a good amount of focus for the full 48. Good thing, because there really wasn’t an opportunity to relax in this one. Keep Reading…

Big time game tonight in Oklahoma City. TNT visits for its first ever regular season broadcast in OKC, the Orlando Magic with their cast of stars are here and then there’s the whole this is two pretty good teams playing each other thing. Keep Reading…

Most people have been disappointed with the selection of Aldrich to this point as they still call for that elusive “big man” to come swooping in and save the Thunder from their 26-13 record and first place spot in the Northwest Division. But the Aldrich pick was and remains about the future. Like everything else in Oklahoma City, it’s about developing talent.

So instead of sitting on the end of the bench, Sam Presti has utilized his options. Aldrich has spent the past few weeks in Tulsa developing his game with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate 66ers.

Wednesday, the 66ers were on NBATV as part of the D-League Showcase and Aldrich has his best game as a professional at any level. He scored 19 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked seven shots. He was a dominant post presence on both ends. And before you say, “Well this is the D-League,” yes that’s true, but Aldrich was playing against a guy many believe will be called up in the near future in Chris Johnson. Keep Reading…

Jonathan Feigan of the Houston Chronicle: “Shane Battier dove at the ball, smacking it with his right hand, and for one split second, the Oklahoma City Thunder might have thought a win in Houston would never come. The Rockets trailed by 13 with 2:03 remaining, but all but two points of the Thunder lead were gone with 20 seconds left. The Rockets were scoring on every possession. The Thunder had lost 11consecutive games in Houston and finally cracked with the win one bucket from certain. Battier had his chance at a steal, and by then there was every reason to think if the Rockets could come up with the ball, they would swipe the win, too.”

Jenni Carlson, calling out Charles Barkley or something: “Come to Oklahoma, Sir Charles. See our city for yourself. Stroll around Bricktown. See the Memorial. Go to a game at the Ford Center. And you agreed to visit. NEWS 9 anchor Kelly Ogle made the official pitch at the All-Star Game in Houston. He’d been critical of you in one of his “My Two Cents” commentaries, but he brought a gift basket and an invitation to come to Oklahoma. “I’m going to come there,” you said at the time. “I’ve got to look at the schedule, see when (the Hornets) are there for a weekend.” Did we mention it’s been five years since then?” Keep Reading…

After you’ve lost to a team at their place 11 straight times dating back to 2005 when the team was in another city, you’ll take a win no matter how you get it. Even if it had some ugliness to it.

First the good stuff. Kevin Durant was terrific (30 points, 10-17 from the field, 4-4 from 3), Russell Westbrook had a good overall game (23 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds) and Oklahoma City made the necessary plays late to seal away the game. Again it was free throw shooting that was big for the Thunder as OKC knocked down eight straight in the last 25 seconds.

The Thunder used two good runs to kind of separate themselves from the Rockets. The first came in the third quarter immediately after Jeff Green took an elbow to the face and had to leave the game. The Thunder stretched out to a 10-point lead by getting multiple stops and pretty much by scoring every trip. Then again late in the fourth, the Thunder funneled through KD and Westbrook created as OKC pulled ahead to an 11-point lead with under two minutes. Those two runs really are what made the difference. Keep Reading…